An online diary about my creative life which includes dyeing, quilting and teaching plus thoughts and experiences as they occur about the more mundane aspects of my life and also pictures of my home town and places I visit.
To see more of my creative works go to my site
Farne Designs

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Problems, problems!

My computer wouldn't let me post anything yesterday. Don't ask me why...I don't know. I tried turning it off and starting again but it didn't want to know. It wouldn't even let me download email but it seems OK this morning. Perhaps it didn't like the late hour and thought it would turn into a pumpkin if I didn't switch it off before midnight! Who knows! Martin is home today so he can check it out for me to see that it doesn't have a malfunction going on.

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In my clearing up I found alot of fabric already cut into 1/2 metre strips that needed dyeing plus I found a load of old dyes left over from a workshop so I put the two together and was quite pleased with the results. I now have a heap of very useful colours which I shall fuse immediately for future use. There are some yummy browns and a range of greens from yellowy to dark winter green plus blues and reds and a good black. One of the best blacks I've ever dyed. I think this must be because I was just dumping the whole dye in the pot as I didn't know how strong it was going to be and therefore it was able to do its thing properly which isn't always the case as I am mean with dyes. I get bright and deep colours anyway and I always expect a double dose of black to give me a deep dark black but one in ten is the ratio so far! Mrs Meanie that's me when it comes to dye powder. So I'm pleased with this black.

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Today I'm going to wax some of these pieces ready for the next dyeing session. I have some interesting bits of metal that I have picked up over time and will see how these work with the wax. I have an electric tjanting with different nozzle sizes but I need to get myself a pot for melting wax as well, as my set up at the moment is very Heath Robinson.

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No pictures as I haven't taken any yet but when I'm finished I will do so.